Yazidi women
Yazidi women hold signs during demonstration against the attacks of Islamic State (IS) in Iraq in front of the European Parliament at the Luxembourg square in Brussels, Belgium on September 8, 2014. Getty Images

The Islamic State (Isis) militants have allegedly released a pamphlet listing 27 tips on how to capture and sexually abuse female slaves.

The pamphlet uses a question and answer format to explain to militants how to search and conquer slaves.

The content, while it is abhorrent and shocking, is not surprising – we know that IS ideologues have justified and legitimated slavery in past publications.
- Charlie Winter, Quilliam researcher

The list is rumoured to have been printed on 3 December by IS's in-house publishers and translated by the Middle East Media Research Institute in Washington.

According to the pamphlet, "unbelief" in Islam automatically entitles someone to being considered for slavery and encourages militants not to limit themselves to "apostate women" who were born as Muslims.

The list also outlines detailed rules on how to behave with a captive female slave.

Amongst some of the encouraged practises, include permission to rape a female captive "immediately after taking possession of her" and permitting "intercourse with the female slave who hasn't reached puberty if she is fit for intercourse".

"The roots of this document can easily be traced back to some of Islamic State's most active propagandists, something that leaves little doubt in my mind about its credibility. The content, while it is abhorrent and shocking, is not surprising – we know that IS ideologues have justified and legitimated slavery in past publications," Quilliam researcher Charlie Winter told The Independent.

IS is believed to have enslaved over 2,500 women from the Yazidi religious minority across Syria and Iraq, according to researchers at the University of Bristol's Gender and Violence Research Centre who said the women are, "treated like cattle."